The current Vice Chair of the Tarrant County (Texas) Republican Party, Shahid Shafi, is a naturalized U.S. citizen who is practices Islam. The Party will vote tomorrow on whether to remove him from his position. A proponent of the motion has written, "We don’t think he’s suitable as a practicing Muslim to be vice chair because he’d be the representative for ALL Republicans in Tarrant County, and not ALL Republicans in Tarrant County think Islam is safe or acceptable in the U.S., in Tarrant County, and in the TCGOP." According to the County Chair who appointed Shafi as Vice Chair, "[Shafi’s] very active with the party, but most of the people don’t even care about what he’s done. Most of them already have a prejudice against Muslims, and a lot of that comes from the attack on 9/11 and the Shariah law they claim all Muslims must obey."

To their credit, a number of statewide Republicans (including Senator Cruz, Land Commissioner George P. Bush, and former Texas House Speaker Joe Straus) have come out against the effort, as has the state party's executive committee.

The vote is scheduled for tomorrow. I'll be interested to see just how eager Tarrant County Republicans are to throw someone out of leadership because he practices Islam. This incident lends further support to my hypothesis that Donny's ascent is facilitating the takeover of the Republican Party by racists because there are now enough of them in the Party to control the levers of power, people repulsed by Donny's racism are leaving the Party, and the racists who remain are using their power to push everyone else out of the Party. --Bob

_________________"Question with boldness even the existence of a God; because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason than that of blindfolded fear." Thomas Jefferson